Tally for scale-hoppers.



O. A. KNEELAND & L. A. WALLING. TALLY FOR SCALE HOPPERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 15, ms

1,208,795. Patented Dec. 19, 1916.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR A. KNEELAND AND LOUIS A. WALLING, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TALLY FOR SCALE-HOPPERS.

To all "H /Lam it may concern Be it known that we, ()soan A. KNEELANI) and LOUIS A. \VALLiNG, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tallies for Scale-Hoppers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention has for its object to provide an improved tally or register for scale hoppers or bins and like receptacles which have a gate or valve for controlling the discharge of grain therefrom.

Generally stated, the invention consists of the novel. devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In elevators and grain storage houses, hoppers of the above character are provided, and it is the custom to charge the hoppers with a predetermined known load of grain and then to drop the same. It is also the custom to keep track of the total amount of grain passed through or discharged from the hopper by keeping count of the number of loads discharged from the hopper. Usually, the operator keeps track of the number of hopper loads by marking on a recording sheet, but it very frequently happens he will make a mistake because of his various other duties connected with the operation. Sometimes he will forget or be uncertain whether or not he has made the proper record notation and then will have to rehandle and reweigh a large amount of grain, or will simply take chances on a mistake having been made. Mistakes of the above character, as is evident, are serious and result in frequent losses of very considerable amounts of grain and often result in dispute between the shipper and the receiver, or between the shipper or receiver and the railway company carrying the grain. Obviously, the number oftimes that the gate of the hopper is opened will correspond to the number of loads discharged therefrom. Our invention provides a tally for such cooperative arrangement in respect to the discharge gate and its operat ing mechanism, so that one unit will be reg-.

istered on the tally each time the gate is opened and again closed. The tally may be Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1916.

Serial No. 28,336.

arranged to be thus operated either simultaneously with the opening or simultaneously with the closing movement of the gate. The important feature is the arrangement whereby the number of complete operations of the gate will be recorded on the tally.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a view chiefly in side elevation with some parts sectioned and some parts broken away, showing the present arrangement of the tally; Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line 00 m on Fig. 1, some parts being broken away.

The numeral 1 indicates the hopper or bin provided in its bottom with a hinged drop gate 2 that is connected to the lower end of an operating rod 8. This operating rod 3, at its extreme upper end, is provided with a suitable hand piece a and below the hand piece, it is provided with a hook-like lug 5, the important function of which will be hereinafter noted.

The tally, as preferably constructed, comprises a dial 6 which may have any desired number of peripheral notches, but, as shown, is provided with twenty-four such notches and is marked adjacent to the successive notches, progressively, with the numerals 1 to 24, inclusive. This dial 6 is pivoted on a stud 7 shown as secured to a bearing plate 8 fastened on one side of the hopper near the top thereof.

The numeral 9 indicates a fixed pointer that is fixed to the outer end of the stud 7 upon which the said dial 6 is journaled.

The numeral 10 indicates a lever which, at its inner end, is pivoted on the stud 7, and is provided with a projecting arm 11. The said lever 10 and arm 11 form a bell crank lever. At its outer end, the said arm 11 is provided with a spring-pressed driving dog 12 that is engageable with the peripheral notches of the dial 6. The free end of the lever 10 is connected by a link 13 to one end of a so-called abutment bar 14, the other end of which is pivoted to the hopper, as shown, by means of a bolt or stud 15. A coiled spring 16, as shown, is attached to the plate 8 and to the arm 11 and tends to hold the bell crank 1011 and driving dog 12 in the position shown in Fig. 1, with the free end of the said dog stopped against a lug or projection 17 on the plate 8, and with the said dog securely held in the engaged peripheral notch or tooth of the dial, so that the said dial cannot be moved in either direction at such time. i

The numeral 18 indicates a spring-pressed retaining dog, which, as shown, is pivoted to the plate 8 and holds the dial against backward movements when the driving dog 12 is moved backward, or from the right toward the left, in respect to Fig. 1.

Now it should be noted that the hook lug 5 on the gate operating rod 3 is so located that by a lateral movement of the said rod from the right toward the left, in respect to Fig. 1, when the gate is drawn upward to a closed position thereby, will cause the said hook lug to engage the upper edge of the lower portion of the abutment bar 14, which latter normally stands in an oblique position shown by full lines, and by a continued movement in the direction noted, will force the said abutment lever down into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The said movement of the abutment bar 14 from its full line to its dotted line position, Fig. 1, is sufficient to carry the driving dog 12 back of the neXt notch and serves to throw the arm 10 against a suitable fixed stop, such as the stop pin 19 on the adjacent side of the hopper. The said abutment bar then becomes fiXed against further downward movement and it then affords a suitable abutment or support causing the gate operating rod 3 to hold the gate 2 in a closed position. When the said rod 3 and abutment bar 14 are engaged, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, they stand so near at a right angle to each other that the hook lug 5 will not be cammed or forced back toward the right, but will be frictionally locked to the said abutment bar. To disengage the hook lug 5 from the said abutment bar, it is necessary, first to move the rod 3 back to or toward its full line position in Fig. 1, and this, as is obvious, releases the gate and permits the rod to be dropped from the hopper; and it also releases the tally actuating mechanism and permits the spring 16 to move the bell crank l011 and driving dog 12 back to the normal position shown by full lines in Fig. 1, thereby registering one unit 011 the tally. Thus, it will be seen that the tally will accurately register the number of loads dropped from the hopper.

What we claim is:

1. The combination with a hopper or bin having a discharge gate, a gate operating connection and an abutment cooperating with said connection to hold said gate closed, of a tally operated by movements of said connection into and out of engagement with said abutment.

2. The combination with a hopper or bin having a discharge gate and a connection for holding said gate in a closed position, of a movable abutment adapted to support said operating connection in a position to hold said gate closed, and a tally arranged to be operated by movements of said abutment.

3. The combination with a hopper or bin having a pivoted drop gate and an operating rod connected to said gate, of a movable abutment engageable with said operating rod to hold said gate in a closed position, and a tally connected to and arranged to be operated by movements of said abutment.

4. The combination with a hopper or bin having a pivoted drop gate and an operating rod connected to said gate, of a pivoted abutment bar, said operating rod having a part adapted to be arranged to be interlocked by said abutment bar by lateral movement along the said bar, the said bar when depressed, serving asan abutment to hold said gate in a closed position, and a tally arranged to be operated by movements of said abutment bar.

5. The combination with a hopper or bin having a pivoted drop gate and an operating rod connected to said gate, of a pivoted abutment bar, said operating rod having a part adapted to be arranged to be interlocked by said abutment bar by lateral movement along the said bar, the said bar, when depressed, serving as an abutment to hold said gate in a closed position, and a tally comprising a fixed pointer, a movable dial, a dog-equipped lever, and a link connecting said lever to said abutment bar.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

OSCAR A. KNEELAND. LOUIS A. WALLING. Witnesses:

F. D. MERCHANT, HARRY D. KILGORE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained. :{or five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patentv Washington, D. C. 

